1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method for marking or signaling an escape route to be taken during an emergency in a building with emergency warning units which are arranged in a distributed manner and are connected to an emergency warning system. The invention further relates to emergency warning units for performing this method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Methods for indicating escape routes by light sources are known from DE-AS 24 41 073, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Such light sources are arranged in a distributed manner along the entire escape route and form a running light whose color shifts increasingly toward the color green in the direction of the safe end of the escape route or whose brightness decreases or whose rhythm slows down. The light sources are associated with sources of sound which can be excited simultaneously or delayed with the light sources. The light sources can be activated individually or as a running light, for example by an emergency warning unit that has passed into the alarm state. Such proposed systems have not been implemented in practice. Two relevant deficiencies are responsible for this fact, namely, on the one hand the considerable complexity in connection with the equipment and installation which would be necessary even in the case of a limitation to merely the light sources, and on the other hand, the fact that it concerns a kind of static solution which does not take into account that at least on larger buildings there are several separate or intersecting and mutually branching potential escape routes, and the secure escape routes to be used in an actual emergency depend on the location at which the hazard has occurred.